A growing AI skills divide is putting companies at risk of losing their most AI-savvy employees, while the majority of workers are being left behind as access to learning and development falls, according to PwC’s 2026 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey.
The survey, which interviewed nearly 50,000 workers across 48 countries and regions, finds diverging levels of optimism in the growth prospects and experiences of employees, as workers face rapid change, rising workloads and greater cost-of-living pressures.
In particular, just 51 per cent say they have access to the learning and development resources they need, down from 59 per cent last year.
The divide is particularly stark among the 56 per cent of ‘engine room’ workers whose skills are less scarce and who are not far along the AI learning curve, with only two in five saying they have access to the learning and development resources they need.
Meanwhile, workers who use AI daily are more confident in their job security, more likely to trust management and more confident about their ability to learn new skills.
The findings come as workers face mounting financial pressures, with only a third reporting having money left at the end of the month, down 8 per cent year on year.
At the same time, 29 per cent say they have significantly less bargaining power than three years ago, more than double the number who disagreed. For fully remote workers, the proportion is 10 percentage points higher.
When considering the biggest risks to job security, 57 per cent cite economic volatility, compared with 44 per cent who are concerned about AI taking on more tasks, with Gen Z more anxious across all these measures.
Workplace pressures are also intensifying, as 58 per cent of those who have experienced change in the workplace feel there has been more change in the last year than in previous years.
Furthermore, 27 per cent say that feeling fatigued or burned out limits their productivity.
The vast majority of workers say they have also had to apply new skills in their jobs over the past year, with 40 per cent reporting having done so to a large extent, including a very large extent.
However, change is happening faster at leadership levels, with 51 per cent of senior executives and 46 per cent of managers saying they have applied new skills in their roles, compared with 29 per cent of non-managers and 38 per cent of entry-level workers.
Despite these pressures, AI adoption continues to rise, with nearly two-thirds of all workers, 64 per cent, reporting using AI at work in the past 12 months, a 10-percentage-point increase compared with last year.
The proportion using generative AI daily has also increased, from 14 per cent to 22 per cent, while 59 per cent expect their use of AI tools at work to increase over the next 12 months.
This group reports that the use of AI makes them feel energised and empowered rather than tired and powerless, by margins of around five to one.
Daily AI users are also more optimistic, with 68 per cent reporting confidence in their job security, compared with 57 per cent of infrequent users.
They are also more likely to ask for a promotion, by 12 percentage points, trust top management, by 15 points, and be confident they can learn new skills, by 21 points.
Nevertheless, while 61 per cent of workers are broadly confident that they can develop their skills, only 51 per cent say they can access the learning and development resources they need, down from 59 per cent last year.
To understand this divide further, the report segments the workforce into four groups.
The first comprises ‘front-runners’, representing 14 per cent of workers, who have scarce skills and strong AI capabilities, followed by ‘AI insurgents’, at 18 per cent, whose skills are less scarce but who are using AI to deliver more.
A further 11 per cent are classified as ‘indispensables’, with scarce skills that employers value highly, but who are not far along the AI learning curve.
The largest group, however, is the ‘engine room’, representing 56 per cent of workers, whose skills are not scarce and who are not far along the AI learning curve.
The report highlights the need for employers to pay particular attention to this group, which is less likely to be rewarded for using AI, learning new skills and challenging existing ways of working.
However, these workers represent the majority of the workforce and are responsible for most of the day-to-day work within an organisation.
By contrast, the ‘front-runners’ are seeing strong benefits from their position, although their growing confidence also presents a challenge for employers seeking to retain their most valuable workers.
Indeed, 29 per cent of this group fall into the very likely and extremely likely categories when asked about changing employer in the next year, raising further concerns about the ability of companies to retain AI-skilled talent while supporting the rest of their workforce.